Public Thong

I had a REALLY close call at the gym this morning.  I have these strange feelings quite often when I leave the locker room.  I have a sudden and panicky feeling that I forgot to put pants on.  I’ve always had appropriate attire on when I’ve reached down frantically to check.

This morning, I accidentally brushed the back of my workout pants and felt something strange.  A black thong from my workout bag had found it’s way to the Velcro on my pants pocket and was hanging there casually.  

OH MY GOSH!!

What if I had gone out like that?!?!?  I was so grateful that I happened to reach down…but now my obsession as I walk out may be taken more seriously.  

The Smell

When I say smell, I mean SMELL!! Anytime the heat kicked on, someone (including one of the cats) walked through the living room, someone SHIFTED on the couch...the most horrendous smell rose and filled the entire living room. We discussed the possibilities.

1. Tiger likes to knock water cups off the coffee table and the floorboards were now rotting from beneath us.
2. Jack has killed a mouse (or 100) and hid it/them throughout the area.
3. We had absolutely no clue.

The boyfriend has insomnia and occasionally moves to the couch between 3 and 5 am for a change of scenery (whatever works…and it seems to). In the morning, he was beyond desperation as he almost hoarsely told the tale of trying to escape from the smell of death.
I vowed to get to the bottom of it while he worked on Sunday. I cleaned the living room, dusted, vacuumed, everything.

It was the flowers. We keep fresh flowers on the bookshelf and they were not so fresh anymore. In fact, they were moldy and possibly a health hazard.

And now we need more flowers.

The Apple

The Boyfriend and I are excellent partners to each other. We make decisions well together (even when involving money, such as when we bought our computer), and we're generally concerned for the other persons well-being, unless there's a huge pile of dirty dishes in the sink...then it's every man/woman for themselves.

We're also best friends and playmates. We wrestle, joke, taunt, tease, and harass each other...and it's delightful.

Last weekend, the Boyfriend was innocently getting an apple out of the fridge. I came up behind and we began competing for the right to the first apple. I shreaked..."Ooohh, you got the big Fujis" and konked him in the head with it (on accident).

We suspected he'd have to admit he'd been assaulted with an apple by his girlfriend that he outweighs by 50 lbs, OR, he could make up a fight with a huge dude...possibly while defending my honor.

There was no black eye. Case closed.

An Olympics Comparison

It feels good to be back on my blog. Work has been SO CRAZY, but extremely exciting. I feel lucky to love going to work.

Studying has also kept me away, although mostly going to Iowa last weekend. Did you know there are still places that get to 40 below zero with windchill? I'd almost forgotten where I grew up...and all the painful cold associated with it. Seriously - I pumped gas when I got there, and three fingers on my right hand were numb for several hours. Seriously.

Anyway, the comparison. I'd noticed I've been justifying watching the Olympics to the Boyfriend. I think it feels strange that I get sucked into competitive sports when I'm SOOOO not a sports person. Although I make no apologies for what happens during the summer games...please, do not touch the VCR. Every gymnastics competition will be taped, and my life stops until I watch all of them.

My dad made a comparison of two things and it opened my eyes. Corned Beef and Cabbage (the food of my Irish brethren) and the Olympic Games. He doesn't look forward to the St. Patrick's Day feast (which is usually spiced up by my mother dying anything she can think of with green food coloring), but when he sits down and eats...fabulous, perhaps even riveting. He feels the same way about the Olympics. It's kind of an inconvenience his favorite shows aren't on, then he finds himself glued to sports he didn't know existed (what's "curling" anyway?).

And so we found ourselves on Saturday night, happily stuffed with seafood lasagne and Dairy Queen ice cream cake, huddled around the TV and screaming for Apollo Ono (ok, I was screaming, they were all watching anxiously).

LSAT Update 1

I just took a Logic Reasoning test and did FAR better than I have in the past. It took me twice as long as it was supposed to, but I read all the tutorial comments.

I'm feeling better already (although I just emailed the boyfriend that we need an office chair in the office. Our current one is from his old "bachelor pad" and doesn't have a back on it).

LSAT

I'm studying for the LSAT (Law School Admission Test).

It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to be an attorney. But this test could possibly be crushing all the life within me. That assessment may be premature, as I've only studied twice so far. But both times were fairly discouraging. Afterall, I've been out of college for 8 years!

The up side is that I'm not taking it until July 12th.

I have to admit that I have a mental block that's holding me back. Having been diagnosed with ADD just 4 years ago, I didn't have the benefit of treatment as a student. It just wasn't something that girls were diagnosed with...especially those that were bright. If I enjoyed a subject, I performed extremely well. If I wasn't interested, I frustrated teachers and my parents. NOTHING could motivate me if I was bored (that's kind of still true).

So my sister (a teacher that's a rockstar working with special needs kids), in conjunction with my mother, pretty much diagnosed me about 4 years ago. I went on, and remain on ritalin, and my performance in all areas has improved.

Back to my dream...to be an attorney. I know I can do it. I know I'm smart enough. But can I get past all those disapointments in school and realize I can do it? I have to.

Another aspect of my agony is that I've agreed to ask for accomodations for a disability. This is hard for two reasons. 1) I don't want special treatment. Like a child in school, I don't want to be different, I want to fit in with all the other kids. 2) I don't consider my ADD a disability. I think it's a gift, one that's given me attributes that only come from this imbalance. I'm intuitive, detail-oriented (when I want to be), I can multi-task like nothing anyone could imagine (yes, it may appear as a crazy person juggling, but it works), I'm creative and imaginative, and quirky. It actually defines who I am, and I like who I am...and lots of people do also.

10:00 AM is when it's on...and by on, I mean the beginning of my third study session. I'm studying for an hour and a half, then working out, then studying for another hour and a half.

Best case scenario - I get into a pattern of studying and do well on the test. I get into a stellar law school and live happily ever after.

Worst case scenario - I get into a pattern, but don't break my pattern of bad study habits, don't score well, don't get into law school, and live happily ever after (and am out only a couple hundred dollars).

Either way, I'll live happily ever after.

Plans

The boyfriend and I both enjoy staying in and watching movies as much as the next person...but we also like to go out.

When I got home on Friday, he asked if I felt like going out. With all this sickness going on with both of us, most weekends have been on a "wait-and-see" basis. I told him going out sounded great, and hit the shower.

He asked again if I was sure I was up to it...I looked at him from the mirror where I was putting on makeup (the fact that I was actually putting on makeup should have been his clue that I was sure...I don't think I'd worn makeup in a month!).

The positive sign that the evening would be great was that I fit into a size 8 dress. I've out on about 10 pounds in the last couple months, and me being in this adorable little black dress made me optimistic. I put the dress on over a pair of jeans with Mary Jane shoes and a tattered corduroy jacket (the only thing I regret is that I didn't put on my black arm covers...oh well, next time).

The best part of the night was that we had no plans. We went to Starbucks with a Riverfront Times (free weekly with all the fun alternative info and events), a chai latte (me), and an ass latte for the boyfriend (soy latte...but I renamed it because it SUCKS!).

Nothing looked fun. There were very few options. It was really cold, so we were limited. I was super hyper and ornery, he was frustrated that more wasn't going on.

And then I realized Mark Lewis was spinning his Funk Buffet at Club 609. Mark used to color my hair. I've gone natural and haven't required his services. Well, not really natural, but my friend M did some really hot changes - dark underneath, a couple burgundy streaks, and a couple highlights on top.

Panic struck me.

"The boyfriend, we can't go to 609".

"Why? I thought you wanted to hear Mark spin".

"There is absolutely no way we can go there - he'll see my hair's been colored and realize I cheated on him!"

We scratched that option.

What about Atomic Cowboy? This bar had moved from a small location and I've been wanting to see the new place. It's really more hipster than I normally like (see definition of hipster: http://www.hipsterhandbook.com/ . Although after reading the definition, I would say that I'm more hipster than I care to admit. Although I am not 2% body fat, nor am I probably considered cool by the cool kids, I am more hipster than mainstream. Oh well.).

A bouncer greeted us and told us to find a seat wherever we wanted. He complained about a lame birthday party that was causing congestion. We found the most perfect seats EVER. They were right by the DJ, a little loveseat (it started as 2 squishy seats with a table in between, but we moved the table and put the seats together).

The DJ was spinning fusion/house music, the atmosphere was really comfortable...and there was people watching of the likes we hadn't seen in a while. An older couple (50's) came in and the slightly chubby female began grinding and gyrating on her male partner (who was QUITE overweight). It was like the sun, you know you shouldn't look directly at it...but it's impossible not to.

To sum up the evening. We cuddled on our little couch, ate cheesecake, listened to excellent music, and argued over who was cuter (you're the cutest, no, you're the cutest...which should have led to us throwing up from being so affectionate), and we went home.

A very simple, unplanned night that turned out fantastic! Did I mention Atomic Cowboy is nonsmoking!

(Click on the post title for the Atomic Cowboy website)

ExxonMobil Had a Good Year

"The world's largest oil company, ExxonMobil, has announced its record-breaking profits for 2005 -- $36.13 billion. That is the largest profit ever recorded in the history of American capitalism."

Let's all read that second sentence slowly; let it sink in, along with all of its implications and consequences.

(Thanks to Elan Flux for the info…now if she’d just start writing on her blog again I’d add her link from my blog.)